The Nation's Premier Civil and Human Rights Coalition

Health Care Reform

The Leadership Conference works to build an America that is as good as its ideals, and toward this end, supports the authority of Congress to enact legislation, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which increases Americans’ access to quality health care. Access to quality health care is a fundamental civil and human right, but the current system of health care in the U.S. denies this right to the most vulnerable segments of society, including low-income families, people of color, women, seniors, and people with disabilities. By addressing the huge disparities in both access to and quality of care, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes a momentous step toward ensuring that all Americans can benefit from affordable, high-quality health care.

The Leadership Conference has also signed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Medicaid Expansion Provision of the Affordable Care Act . The brief outlines U.S. obligations under international treaties to address disparities in both access to and quality of coverage and care. In its statement of interest, The Leadership Conference said the Medicaid Expansion Provision “will lead to broader access to quality health care by the most vulnerable segments of society, including children, people of color, women, seniors, and people with disabilities.”